Area 51 Essay, Research Paper

There has been speculation in the media for the last fifty year about paranormal activity at Area 51 near Roswell, New Mexico. The Roswell incident has brought about conspiracy theories that have reached the highest levels of government. The truth about the alleged UFO sightings and alien spaceship crashes around Roswell has been a continued argument that has grown to legendary proportions over the years. The government has categorically denied any military activity in the area. However, documentation and photographs have proven that the military is hiding something at the Roswell site. To create a greater mystery, the UFO enthusiasts have flooded the media with partial truths that have often been proven to be downright lies. The video of the extraterrestrial beings and their ships has been proven to be a hoax. Therefore, it can be asked what is the truth about the paranormal activities at Area 51.

In 1947, W. W. Brazil reported that a flying saucer had crashed on a ranch owned by J. B. Foster near Roswell, New Mexico. Brazil, a rancher, related that on June14, 1947, he and his eight year old son found a flying disk in an open area on the ranch. On July 4, Brazil took his wife and family to the location and gathered up rubber strips, tinfoil, rough paper, and sticks. After reporting his find to the sheriff, George Wilcox, the Roswell Army airfield was notified. Major Jesse Marcel investigated the report and took pieces of the disk to his home to reconstruct it. The Roswell case was closed at that time. (3) However, documents have been found dated November1952, that were addressed to President Dwight Eisenhower from Rear Admiral Rosco H. Hillinkoctler. The document was reported to be a Top Secret briefing. A second document dated September 24, 1947 was a Top Secret memo from President Truman to Secretary of Defense James Forrestral. This document authorized Forrestral to establish a group of qualified persons to investigate a “crashed saucer that had been recovered near Roswell, New Mexico in July1947.”(3) This group would be known as the Majestic 12. The progress of the MJ-12 group was described in the MJ-12 papers. TheMJ-12 papers were released to the media on May 29, 1987. These documents seemed to bring credibility to the UFO claims that have resurfaced over the years. However, evidence for the authenticity of the documents has not been proven. Research also uncovered a second story claiming that Barney Barrett, a surveyor found more of the UFO crash and the crew of the spaceship on the plains of San Agustin about 200 miles north west of Roswell. (3) Staunton Friedman, a nuclear physicist, and Don Berliner Published Crash at Corona cited the testimony of Glenn Dennis, a mortician and Roswell’s ambulance driver. Dennis said that he had seen the UFO wreckage in the back of an Army ambulance and the air base had requested child size, hermetically sealed caskets. Dennis further revealed that a nurse from the base hospital had described the alien bodies. In 1994, it seemed that the mystery had finally been solved when Randle and Schmitt published The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell. The Truth alleged that there was only one UFO crash about 35 miles north of Rosewll on July5, 1947. Randle and Schmitt produced a archaeological team led by Dr. Curry Holden, and a Frank Kaufman who said he tracked the mysterious UFO until it crashed. The main witness in The Truth was Jim Ragsdale and his girlfriend Trudy Truelove. Ragsdale and Truelove allged alleged that they had witnessed the actual crash of the UFO on July2. The Truth however, was later condemned as a hoax and Randle and Schmitt admitted to embellishing the facts in the case. Finally, in the summer of 1995 solid evidence appeared that aliens had been recovered from a crash in 1947. A film was released that showed photographs of the autopsy of one of the alien corpses. A man known as J.B. was reported to be a military cameraman who was sent from Washington, D.C., J.B. claimed that he had filmed the crash and the dead and dying aliens. He said that he later filmed the autopsy. J.B. has appeared on a video interview in Japan. There are also claims that a MJ-12 Special Operations Manual (SOM) is dated 1054 and orders that all, wreckage must be delivered to Area51. There have been claims that captured alien spacecraft were “reverse engineered” to gain secrets of their advanced technology. Special stealth technology, which makes aircraft invisible on radar, is “alleged to have been developed from captured UFO’s.”(3) It appears that there is compelling evidence to believe that there is a possibility of alien bodies and extraterrestrial ships; however, the evidence often defies logic and is racked with flaws.

Area 51 is a part of a top secret United States Air Force facility for military testing. Groom Lake is the isolated site of a dry lakebed that is used to test top secret military aircraft. Some People believe that the Area 51 site is a place of government cover-up of UFO’s. Residents and visitors have sited UFO’s in this area. However, the government has repeatedly denied the existence of Area51. (5) The name Area 51 began in the 1950’s on the original maps of the Air Force Base. Today, the official designation of Area 51 is Air Force Flight Test Center, Detachment 3, or AFFTC Det. 3. An area of 575 square miles is Area 51 with Groom Lake at its center. (1) People have reported paranormal activities in the area; however the government has restricted access to the site which has caused many to suspect a cover up by the government to hide extraterrestrial spacecraft. The government justifies the restrictions and the security measure by claiming that the site is used for military bombings (5)

Photographs and visitors are not allowed on the Area 51 site. Therefore, speculations have presented many theories of the UFO sightings in that section of the Air Force base. Even though, the government always denies the stories that alien bodies were found at the crash sight, the Roswell incident has created a public belief that UFO’s are alien spaceships.(4) This belief is reinforced by the thousands of photographs and videotapes that show UFO’s in flight. However, skeptics believe that these photos are misinterpreted natural phenomena or photos that have been altered to produce a hoax.(4) The research into the Roswell incident seems to prove the statements of 350 people who claim to have seen alien bodies are fabrications and misinterpretations. The MJ-12 papers have not been verified by any government agency. The origination of the papers has never been established. The section of the base known as Area 51 was not designated by that name until the 1960’s. The earliest documentation of the area is from nuclear fallout tests.(3) The authenticity of the alien corpses is impossible to substantiate. The Washington cameraman who stated that he was sent to the Roswell site to film the wreckage of a Russian spy plane claims that he arrived an the scene to hear screams of freak creatures lying in the vehicle. “Cameraman Jack,” as he has become known, said that there was “heat still radiating around the craft.” He also alleges that “it was plain to see that it was no Russian spy plane.” Logic shows that the Cameraman’s story is clearly false. The time element alone would cause the cameraman to take several days to arrive at the site. It is also amazing that the film was overlooked and never viewed by authorities. According to “Jack,” “The first two autopsies took place in July 1947. After filming I had several hundred reels.” “Jack” claims he processed the film, but the authorities never made arrangements to collect the film. It is remarkable that none of the military brass, scientists, or politicians of the time were aware of the film. The footage is apparently a hoax since there are numerous abnormalities to the autopsy that suggest a mock up of alien beings in a staged setting. Even the dates and times of “Cameraman Jacks” revelations do not coincide with the original reports of the wreckage by Mac Brazil. (3)

The truth about the paranormal activities at Area 51 seems to be that many people created stories to gain publicity and celebrity. The government security and restriction at Area 51 led to speculation that the military was covering up the existence of extraterrestrial encounters with UFO’s. The facility that was reported to have experimented with reverse engineering is verified by the Air Force as a testing facility. However, the Air Force refuses to discuss what is actually tested at this facility.(5) This secrecy has led to speculation on the part of Ufologists who have done exhaustive research and documentation to attempt to prove the existence of a scam. The original report of debris found on the Roswell site was probably accurate. However, the interpretation of the debris was flawed and then embellished by many people with vivid imaginations. The wreckage was possibly a weather monitoring craft. Over the years this wreckage has fueled a controversy that has created a mystery. This mystery will never be explained to the satisfaction of the UFO believers. The believers in Unidentified Flying Objects that are extraterrestrial expect acceptance of phenomena that transcends the laws of physics, gravity, and energy. The mystery of extraterrestrial unidentified flying objects and alien encounters is pure fiction.

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